Sensible
by Margravine
Summary: Rose Weasely has always been sensible. Nothing and no one, not even the dashing Teddy Lupin is going to change that. End of story. Or the beginning…
1. Surprises

Rose Weasely was, before all else, sensible. If she had inherited her grandmother's temper, her father's obstinacy and her mother's brain, she still quite definitely had a mind of her own. And it was telling her to say no.

"No." Rose told him, watching as his face fall slightly, and a flicker of grey paled his previously sea green eyes.

"It'll irritate Al," Teddy wheedled, looking at her beseechingly.

She grinned reluctantly but held firm despite the dimpled grin she received in return.

"I can irritate Albus all on my own," she told him primly. "I am not doing it. I am not thinking about it. I am not thinking about thinking about it. It is by far the worst idea you have ever had, and that includes the time you jumped off the top of Big Ben _because you thought you could fly._"

"No one ever lets that go, do they?" he asked bitterly, scrubbing his hand through his hair, golden brown today.

She threw him a disbelieving look, but before she could bring up the damning details, he had continued inexorably forwards on his glorious quest.

"You have to come," he insisted.

"I'm not doing it, Lupin!"

"But it'll be fun!" he pleaded.

"That's what you said last time," Victoire complained from the kitchen.

"But it was!" he groused back, lifting his voice slightly. Rose sighed inwardly. It was highly impractical to argue from different rooms, even if the walls of Dom's flat were thin enough for it to be possible.

"Teddy, do you even remember what happened last time?" asked Victoire skeptically, emerging from the kitchen immaculate except for a tiny flour mark caressing one smooth ivory cheek. Rose still half expected choirs of angels to start strumming their harps whenever Victoire floated into a room, but the almost involuntary sighs from the male half of the species were a decent substitute.

"Not all of it," admitted Teddy grudgingly, glowering at the small, doll like woman. Victoire arched one delicate eyebrow.

"I had too much to drink. You, on the other hand had… Sophia Nott," drawled Victoire, blue eyes sparkling wickedly.

Ted advanced on her threateningly, six feet three inches of pure menace and she shrieked and stepped backwards, straight into the arms of a tall, dark skinned man.

"Fighting _again_, children?" he chided gently. Victoire laughed and twisted in his embrace to greet him properly.

"Ewwww!" screamed Louis, shielding his eyes as he Floo'd in through the fireplace to be greeted with this spectacle. Alex Zabini merely grinned and held Victoire more closely.

"Lou, you're nearly twenty. Grow up," Rose told him crisply. He shot her a wounded look. Louis was currently going through a phase of extreme sensitivity to art, nature and slights to his person. His naturally blond hair, coveted by the generally carrot haired Weaselys was dyed jet black today and hanging to his shoulders in artful dishevelment complemented further by ripped clothing Rose suspected cost more than her rent. His pale blue gaze was considerably lighter than the shade he had been born with, and enhanced by several applications of silver eyeliner. He opened his rosebud mouth around his crystal piercings to retort cuttingly when he was pushed forwards as Molly staggered out of the fireplace. Her near fall was not due to her six inch heels, necessities of life to make her almost normal height, but because of the pile of presents she was clutching in her perfectly manicured hands. She had no sooner collapsed on a nearby divan before the fireplace blazed green again and her younger sister Lucy, overdressed as usual in black silk and pearls, stepped daintily through. It was not yet seven in the evening, and the flat was already crowded, with many more to come. Rose was increasingly glad she had out her foot down and made this family only.

Dom's four room flat was a screaming statement in colour, with indigo carpets, coral wall hangings and landscape details on the doors. Her mantelpiece was crammed with photo frames of waving friends and self portraits which kissed their hands to the onlookers or hid behind them, depending on when Dom had painted them. Her bookcases, unlike Rose's, contained no books, but were graced with Japanese figurines and the ancient Egyptian sculptures gifted to Bill in his curse breaker days.

Lucy looped a handful of streamers around the sculptures while Molly began fixing gold balloons onto the sixteenth century chandelier Tante Gabrielle had donated. Rose's fingers itched to straighten the messy arrangement, but before she could make a move, James and Fred burst through the door. Their crisp business robes – well, Fred still appeared neatly attired, James was missing a tie, in need of a haircut and perhaps an ironing spell – were a stark contrast to their bulging bags blazoned with 'WWW'.

Lucy stopped dead in her tracks and Molly sighed appreciatively and seated herself on a footrest to better watch the show.

"Fireworks?," Lucy asked, deceptively calm as she relieved Fred of his burden. James was shifting on one foot as if he was thirteen instead of twenty three, and facing a manticore instead of his little cousin Lucy. However, since she was far more like Molly Weasely I than the sister named for her, neither young man was quite foolish enough to reply, although this did not prevent Lucy from ripping through octaves.

"Seriously? In a flat this size? What were you thinking? Are you even capable of thinking? Sometimes I wonder about you two…"

Rose winced at the volumes she was reaching and began to inch towards the kitchen. Hugo and Roxy were due to arrive any minute with the real food; her brother was a surprisingly good cook, especially considering their parents, to the point where he almost rivaled Roxy, a trainee chef. Teddy caught her elbow as she passed, abandoning his impassioned defense of his 'boys'.

"You know nothing happened between me and Soph, right?" he asked, looking down intently at her.

She shrugged.

"What you do is your concern, Theodore," she said as calmly as she could. Brushing past him she did not see the line his mouth fell into, or the squaring of his shoulders as he watched her lithe form weave through the crowded living room.

Stepping into the butter yellow kitchen, Rose shook her head fondly as she caught Victoire kissing Alex again.

"Not near the food!," she begged, but she was smiling. Tall Alex, with his raven hair and rich brown skin was the polar opposite of tiny Victoire, who was so pale and fair haired she appeared glowing beside him. They looked absolutely stunning together on the society pages of every fashion magazine of note, but Rose she was genuinely pleased Victoire had finally find a boyfriend, or fiancée, now, that she didn't tire of in a week. Models, musicians, Quidditch stars and poets had all failed to do what ministry member Zabini apparently had: live up to the standard of Victoire's first love.

"Let me see the cake," Rose demanded, casting a wary eye around the kitchen, which was liberally sprinkled with flour. A half broken egg was oozing on the kitchen table, the sink was piled with mixing bowls. Victoire beamed went to extract it from the tiny pantry. Rose dryly noticed it was empty except for a tin of Lady Grey and a collection of paintbrushes. The cake turned out to be one of the most dilapidated culinary confections Rose had ever seen, and she had grown up in Hermione Weasely's care. It was three collapsing layers of jam and cream, with 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOM' written in Bertie Botts beans across the sagging middle. Alex and Rose exchanged quick looks of dismay.

"She'll love it," Alex said firmly, giving Rose a warning glance. Rose opened her mouth, for once not knowing what to say, and was saved by the entrance of more family.

"We're here!" sang Roxy in her light soprano, ushering in Hugo, who weighed down with large white boxes. More floated in behind them, levitated by Lily, who was wearing sunglasses in the evening, almost definitely because she still struggled with Anti-Hangover Charms. Rose frowned.

"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply. Lily looked as if she had been slapped.

"Dominique is _just _as much my cousin as she is yours -"

"Yes, but weren't you the one distracting her?" asked Victoire, at last distracted from Alex.

"No, that was Lucy" replied Lily, glaring at Rose.

"LUCY WEASELY!"

"LULU get in here NOW!"

"What?"

"Why aren't you with Dom?"

"Fred was on it."

"FRED!"

"It wasn't me, it was James!"

"Nah mate, I thought Roxy was keeping her busy since they're best friends at all."

"James, I have spent the entire day cooking Dom's favourite foods, don't you think that, along with the cake saying 'WE LOVE YOU DOM' would be a _bit_ of a giveaway?"

"Wait, you made a cake? Why would you do that, I was making the cake!"

"Weaselys! Potters! Silence in the courtroom!" shouted Teddy.

Rose took advantage of the silence to say what was on everyone's minds.

"So, no one is with Dom, and she could walk in any minute?" she clarified.

"Maybe Al's on it?" suggested James sheepishly.

"Maybe Al's on what?" asked the man himself, walking through the open door, still in his lime green Healer robes but with a crate of Butterbeer under one arm and a bottle of Firewhisky in his other hand.

"Close the door!" shouted the collective Weasely's, Potters and Lupin in unison. Albus blinked and complied, taking in his extended family with his sharp green gaze.

Rose alone had a near photographic memory, so she was the only one among her generation of Weaselys and Potters to appreciate properly just how identical to his father, if one judged from history textbooks and family photographs, Albus was. James I had not lived to reach twenty two, but his portrait was uncannily similar, and Rose was absently wondering, not for the first time if Al's future sons would continue the spatial genetic multiplicity trend, when Albus himself snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Who's with Dom?" he asked worriedly.

They all groaned together, and then Roxanne began to laugh, followed by Molly, and sparking a chain reaction from the cousins, all perched on antique chairs, squatting on the tie-dyed rugs or standing around the sculptures which Dom left around her living room.

Victoire however, wasn't laughing. Alex rubbed her back soothingly, but for once this did not smooth the creases from her forehead.

"What are we going to do?" she asked anxiously.

"Ssssh!" hissed James, who had flattened himself against the closed door, inserting one Enhanced Extendable Ear into the key hole.

"D'you reckon that's what he uses at work to get promoted?" Hugo asked Louis, snickering.

James glared at them, and then jumped back as a key pushed his Extendable Ear out. In under a second Rose had hit the lights and Teddy had cast an Audiunt Negataviunt Charm on them. Unfortunately, that meant that as well as being inaudible, they couldn't hear out of the sound barrier the charm created, and they waited for what seemed an age as Dom fumbled with her key.

"What is she doing?" asked Louis in exasperation.

"How bloody long does it take to open a door? Women!" agreed Fred.

"Maybe it's stuck?" ventured Molly.

"No, I got through fine earlier," James said.

They waited, fidgeting, pacing and Fred and James's case, tussling, until the door finally swung open.

"Surprise!" they yelled together, turning on the lights and freezing Dom on the spot.

There was stunned silence for one eternal moment before the smiles slipped and all hell broke loose.

"Dominique Gabrielle Weasely!"

"Sweet Merlin on a cracker"

"Shit. Shit, shit SHIT!"

"You traitor!"

".Insane ?"

"Grandfather is going to _kill_ you."

"Take your hands off my sister!" screamed Louis, drowning the rest of the babble out.

Dom dropped her arms from Scorpius Malfoy's neck and took a step away from him. Her mouth was moving silently, and Rose felt more sympathy for her svelte, talented, vivacious cousin than she had in years. Dom had always been the one to breeze effortlessly through all the things Rose had to slave away at – love, relationships, life, but this could not be comfortable for her. However, after a good thirty seconds, it was unlike Dom to be still off balance… it wasn't as if she'd never been caught kissing a boy before; even they usually weren't sworn family enemies three years younger than her… Rose cottoned on to the problem half a second before Teddy did.

"The Charm!" she shouted, leaning forward to smack the back of his head.

"It's down," he said drily, putting away his wand. "Happy Birthday, Dom"

Dom shook her long red gold curls free of the clip containing them, kicked off her stilettos and took Scorpius's hand in hers. He squeezed her fingers, pushing back his own white-blond fringe with his free hand to reveal a look of determination on his sharp featured face Rose had never seen before in all the years she had known him.

"So this would be a good time to tell you that we've been going out for two years now," Dom said coolly, sparing a half guilty, half defiant look for Rose.

* * *

**dum dum dah! I don't normally write fluff, so please review and let me know if you think this is worth continuing!**


	2. Secrets

As the room exploded in uproar, Rose felt a dull throbbing beat a rhythmic pace in her temples. Leaving them to it, she stumbled out of the suddenly hot, crowded room to the small balcony adjoining Dom's spare room, a room she had occupied more often than she wished, usually after making sure Dom made it to her own bed after a messy night on the town and a room she might not ever stay in again.

She was not quite sure how long she was there, shivering at the stars for. She could still register that there was no decrease in the volume of the shouting in the next room, but numb body was drained of all emotion and her thoughts blocked out all sound. Almost all sound.

"Rose?"

She was turning around before she knew it, tilting up her head to see him properly. Teddy looked, for a wonder serious, his eyes their normal amber and without their usual roguish twinkle. He squeezed himself onto the tiny balcony; it shook and creaked ominously and she reached out instinctively for the nearest support, which turned out to be his arm. He did not brush her off, as she half expected; she had seen how he had distanced himself from even the family these days. Instead he looped her arm through his and surveyed Dom's view of a moss eaten cemetery, perhaps the resting place of a thousand unrealized visions, without really seeing it.

She, who never was without an opinion, did not speak, so acutely was she aware of the feel of his slightly calloused fingers, of the heat radiating from his side, and when he broke the silence, it was not with the question she had been steeling herself to deny.

"I'm old, aren't I?" he asked woefully, the beginnings of a classic Black pout forming. (Andromeda had raised him well.)

"You know you're old when all your friends are paired up seriously" he mused. "Half my friends already have children, now you lot are heading that way! Dom's apparently been going out for years with Malfoy, Vic's engaged to Alex, and Roxy to Lysander, and then little Lucy beat everyone else out to the alter when she married Finnigan,"

"Owen," Rose corrected him primly.

"Didn't you go out with out with Malfoy back in school?" was his non sequitur of a reply.

She laughed incredulously at his barefaced audacity to confront head on the elephant in the room, and the bubble of mirth that rose between them swelled and burst, taking along with it the tension she had not noticed between them until it was gone.

"In seventh year, yes," she said, pulling back to look at him quizzically. "It was years ago, and I told Victoire in deepest confidence, I can't believe she told you!"

Ted shrugged, a graceful movement of irritation.

"What did you do, break up with the poor sod to focus on your NEWTs?" he teased, a current she couldn't quite identify darkening his tone. It was her turn to shrug, to put on a freshly ironed air of tranquility.

"We never really had that much in common. He .. I.. at the time, I thought that it was real, but it was really just a fit of teenage rebellion we both grew out of."

He made a soft murmur of understanding, and she should have left it at that and dropped the topic with dignity and restraint. Instead she blurted out -

"I haven't thought of him in years." She flushed as furiously as only a red head can, but his eyes were not on her, to catch her out in her bare faced lie, but on the huge yellowing moon, peeping out from the clouds to dimly illuminate the cemetery gruesomely.

"It's the worst part of growing up, isn't? Growing out of relationships you thought would last forever," Ted said absently.

She knew he was thinking of Victoire, the first love of his life, though that had blossomed a good ten years ago and wilted more than five. She knew it because of the slightest of crinkles in the corners of his deepened amber eyes, the small downturn that his wide mouth, made for laughing, took. She slipped her hand in his.

"We'll brave all the Weasely weddings together, Lupin," she promised. He grinned in reply and stroked the hand he still held with his thumb. She felt a surge of something light, and silly and far too powerful spark inside of her at his touch and she immediately marshaled her defenses and stamped down on them hard. His next words doused the remnants that lingered effectively.

"Won't you reconsider Rosie?"

She snatched her hand back and straightened her shoulders.

"Don't call me Rosie, I'm twenty two. And you know why I can't. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Teddy, I don't know what you were thinking asking me."

His eyes flickered, changing colour and back again so quickly she could not be sure in this light it had happened.

"I had hoped you would trust me," he said.

"Ted, the parts of Europe you want to jaunt off to are infested with bandits, overrun by dark creatures and frequented by the last remains of the Neo Death Eaters. Why in Merlin's name would you willingly take a job there? You already have a perfectly respectful, absurdly well paying job for a man not yet thirty, why are you throwing it all away?" she demanded.

"The adventure, the thrill of fighting for your life isn't appealing?"

"Teddy! This is _me_"

He smirked at her and then sighed.

"Those overrun-by-dark-creature hotspots are also becoming the centre of the movement for werewolf rights. They've bringing about huge changes there. That's where everything is happening, petal, and it's where I want to be!"

He paused, meeting her gaze for the first time since he had stepped onto the balcony and shattered her attempt at serenity. There was no confusion in his eyes, none of the usual reserve, and the sense of purpose radiating from him seemed an almost tangible aura, settling around him and lending him a gravity that transformed him better than any Metamorphagi trick could. She has seen the player, the troublemaker, the bookworm, the desperate lover and the impish joker. She has missed the dreaming king.

"I couldn't do any less" he said firmly. "I'm a Lupin, and proud to be."

She smiled at him, her eyes beginning to blur dangerously.

"You'll be magnificent," she said shakily.

"Oi, you two!" Albus poked his head out onto the balcony. "They've stopped yelling; now all the girls are crying. What in Rowena's lacy knickers are you two talking about? You've been out here ages!"

"Nothing," Rose and Ted said together and then shot each other sidewise glances.

One of Al's shot up.

"I see," he said significantly.

Teddy reached out patronizingly and ruffled Al's hair, he retaliated in kind more roughly and Rose bypassed them to join the party.

As Albus had described, Dom and Victoire were crying and hugging furiously. Rose found Lily, Molly and Lucy sitting together on the couch drinking elderberry wine, they stopped talking the minute she entered and smiled knowingly at her. She changed her course, mustered her courage and joined Scorpius, who was looking somewhat harried between James, who was cracking his knuckles as if he were fifteen instead of a twenty three year old reporter rather dependant on his hands, and Louis who seemed to be hitting stride in his 'You break her heart, I break your face," speech. Her part Veela cousin looked quite impressively aggressive for a nineteen year old male model with porcelain skin, but she supposed he'd had a fair bit of practice with the collective boys his adored older sisters brought home – or didn't.

"Good to see you, Scorpius," she said insincerely. He smiled at her, not the cocky smirk she was accustomed to, or the brilliant smile he polished in all reflective surfaces, but a genuine, slightly shy grin that suited him much better and she found herself smiling back.

Perhaps she would manage to survive this night after all. Perhaps she wouldn't murder Dominique, or make any of the biting comments about taking leavings that had been simmering in her brain until her conversation with Teddy drenched them thoroughly and blew them to ephemera.

Rose studiously avoided Teddy for the rest of the night, a feat which involved sticking by Victoire until she could no longer stomach third wheeling, volunteering to look through Dom's new and increasingly bizarre portfolio of photographs and make the appropriate noises, and finally, when there was no resort left, enduring Lucy's gushing about her new husband's Quidditch successes.

He knew what she was up to, had never needed any help in reading her every sliding gaze and faintly trembling hand, and he bided his time, waited until her long black coat was buttoned up around her neck, her hands gloved and crammed with packages of food that would, with luck, get her through the week, before he strolled up to her. He carelessly kissed Dom on the cheek, gave Scorpius, the only person present he was actually related to, a friendly handshake, and then he seized Rose's shoulder in his long fingered hands and treated her to Side Along Apparition as if she was twelve.

"I know, you're a big girl and can Apparate yourself, but this place is warded so only Harry or I can Apparate in," Ted informed her before she could do more than open her mouth. She twisted in his hold and glared at him and he stepped back as the world stopped spinning and the blaze of colours cleared.

"You still need to ask. And I'm not haring off to Europe with you. And why the hell do you have a bloody great room only you and Harry can Apparate to?" she demanded. She knew Teddy's house almost as well as her own; Harry had refurbished and bequeathed Grimmauld Place to Teddy, as a part Black and the only other Marauder legacy years ago. Yet she had never seen this wide room, with a solid mirror of a wall conjuring painful childhood memories of ballet lessons. Stacks of boxes were heaped haphazardly against another wall; she glimpsed a lime green robe like Al's healer gear poking out from one, a Wizengamot collar falling out of another. It was third wall that she was drawn to magnetically, it was lined with bookcases better stacked than her own, covering everything from obscure Dark Creatures to histories of Death Eaters and auror hierarchies.

"Why do have a book called_ Witches: for part-Trolls_?" she asked, not bothering to mask her amusement.

"I take you to the secret room your mother and I spent three years building and making impenetrable, and the first thing you notice is the books. Naturally", he drawled.

She turned around to see he had kicked off his shoes and sprawled his long frame in the more patched of the two armchairs, leaving her a tall, stiff backed leather seat. She slid into it, placing her food packages on the Persian rug and sparing Teddy a speculative glance.

"My mother built this room," she said flatly.

Teddy leaned forward, his face suddenly pale. He took a deep breath.

"She did. I was never supposed to tell anyone, especially not you."

Rose opened her mouth to ask why not and her traitor mouth asked instead.

"Why did you?"

She could not meet his eyes, but could feel his hesitation and the long drawn out moment was almost unbearable. Finally, when she thought she would scream, or choke from the frustration of waiting, always _waiting,_ he spoke.

"This is the only place I can tell you the truth."

She was instantly suspicious.

"What have you done, Theodore Remus Lupin?"

He looked wounded.

"See how she judges me?" he asked the portrait of his mother, which hung between two of the bookcases. She smiled fondly at him but did not speak. Rose wondered if she even could, considering the spell work had been done after her death, in defiance of wizarding tradition but insisted on by Harry… and then she lost her train of thought as she looked up to catch Teddy's eyes, a liquid gold she could drown in, trained on her, an infinitely sad smile pulling on the corners of his mouth.

"I lied to you," he said so softly she had to lean forward to hear him. "I do want to do my bit for werewolf rights, but that's not – well, not completely – I'm not explaining this properly – I haven't really had to explain it before - Rose, there's another reason I want you to come with me to Transylvania!"

She felt her breath catch, and had to make an effort to control her tone.

"I didn't think your idea of a holiday was really a freezing hell hole overrun by Dark creatures, however you tried to make it sound fun," she said.

He nodded absently.

"Did you ever wonder why I never became an Auror? I was practically brought up by Harry after all, and it was all I ever wanted to do as a kid, live up to my parents' legacy."

She shook her head. She could not for the life of her see the relevance of this question, if she had not been covertly watching him for the entire night, she would have thought him on the wrong end of tipsy. He was at his most whimsical after a few Firewhiskies, but he had not touched more than one this night. He seemed to be expecting an answer, she gave in and decided to humor him yet again.

"Ted, you graduated before I even started Hogwarts, you travelled overseas all the time, it's really only in the last few years we've become close. I just assumed you always wanted to work in Magical Cooperation."

He laughed, not his usual rich baritone chuckle but a lower, mirthless snicker.

"That's a front I've kept up the last decade, Rosie. I'm going to tell you now something I shouldn't, even though Harry authorized me to. I shouldn't tell you because it will change things. It will change how you think of me, it will change you. It will pull you down the rabbit hole, it will end the dream. And I'm sorry for that, petal. I am so, so sorry,"

* * *

**if you liked it at all, or want to inspire me to write the next chapter, please do drop me a line!**


	3. Saviour

_Previously:_

"_I'm going to tell you now something I shouldn't, even though Harry authorized me to. I shouldn't tell you because it will change things. It will change how you think of me, it will change you. It will pull you down the rabbit hole, it will end the dream. And I'm sorry for that, petal. I am so, so sorry."_

Rose knew without quite being able to frame it in words that the next few minutes would mark a turning point in her life. Two roads were opening up before her; she could close her eyes, her heart and her mind and Disapparate from this place, forgetting this conversation had ever happened, and continue trudging away at her safe, comfortable, predictable existence.

Or she could remain where she was and learn the reason for the shadows behind Teddy Lupin's eyes, the lines etched lightly on his chiseled face, the air of disillusion that had settled around him, dampening the passionate intensity that had had radiated from him for as long as she could remember.

"I want to know," Rose said finally, breaking the silence which had stretched to breaking point between them.

Teddy nodded, his expression grave, but his eyes warm. "I thought you would. I wish I didn't have to ask for your help, but your knowledge of Mermish, goblin dialects and dark creature lore is unparalleled."

Rose shrugged, but her cheeks lived up to her name. "Not many people are interested in obscure languages and want to spend their lives translating old books," she said drily.

Teddy shifted in his chair restlessly.

"Even if there were, I still would have come to you," he said earnestly, leaning forward. "I've kept this secret for so long, I don't think I could tell a stranger."

"Tell them what?" she pressed. His allusions and evasions were driving her mad; she had to know what he was hiding, why she was here.

He took a deep breath and then got up, coming to stand near her. She frowned, not liking that he towered over her as few men could.

"I'm an undercover Auror," he blurted suddenly. His shoulders sagged as he spoke, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders as the words which had choked him for so long escaped into the atmosphere to hover between them.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "There are no undercover Aurors," she said flatly.

His grin was a lopsided flash of teeth.

"We wouldn't be much good at being undercover if people knew about us," he pointed out sensibly.

She gritted her teeth and his grin widened.

"I've known you my whole life. There's no way you could hide that for all these years."

"I'm very good at concealment," he said simply. It was a matter of fact statement without any of the arrogance that she would have expected to accompany it. Rose realized with a pang that he had changed when she wasn't looking. Sometime Teddy Lupin, the eternal boy, had grown up, and this made her feel far older than graduating and moving out of home ever had. She wondered at what point the laughing boy who had teased her mercilessly, given her extra flying lessons quietly and been an immovable fixture in the rosy hallways of her childhood had disappeared.

The man who wore his face, youthful if you ignored his eyes, took Rose's arm and led her gently across to the wall covered in bookcases, his free hand running across the cracked leather spines of worn volumes lovingly.

"Harry trained me himself. It's all I ever wanted to do, to be like him.. be like my parents.. learn to fight.. Hermione helped us build this room. . it was her idea, I think, for Harry to have a secret force of under cover agents no one knew about it. . Ron was very enthusiastic about it, but they're all too famous to be any good."

Rose groaned. "Dad _loves _James Bond," she admitted ruefully. "Worst thing Mum ever did was introduce him to the telly..secret agents are his favourite – oh sweet Merlin, you're the perfect agent," she realized. Teddy had downplayed his Metamorphagi abilities for so long, and she was so used to the subtle colour changes his eyes and hair underwent with the strongest of emotions, that it was easy for her, and therefore easy for the world, to forget that Theodore Lupin was a Metamorph.

He laughed, a proper laugh this time, and his hair turned a turquoise blue that was the colour of serenity, of childhood, of unconditional love lapping at the shores of unexplored territory.

"It does give me an unfair edge in disguises and concealment," he said, still smiling.

Her quick mind had seized on this piece of information was absorbed in extracting every last drop of meaning from it.

"You could never be detected by any of the spells which neutralize normal attempts an concealment. . you could have your wand taken away from you and still transfigure yourself!"

"It's an internal ability, so only when my powers are dangerously depleted is it a problem," he confirmed. "It's got me out of a few scrapes, believe me," he said, an expression of mischief chasing away the last vestiges of uncertainty hovering behind his eyes. An answering gleam of fun peeped from Rose's eyes and she threw off the constraints of maturity and gravity happily. She half walked, half ran to the boxes she had noticed when entering the room a thousand years ago and gleefully began rummaging through them.

"You've been a hit squad member, I see," she said, tossing aside the distinctive red and grey robe to pull out a muggle sailor outfit. "You joined the navy?" she asked incredulously.

He patted the creased white fabric fondly. "I've been a sailor, a policeman, a magi zoologist, a construction worker, a Ministry secretary.. and that was just in the last two years," he rattled off.

"For how long has this been going on?' she demanded. His gaze slid from hers and he paused before answering.

"Since I left Hogwarts," he admitted. "The year I took off to 'go travelling', your first year at Hogwarts, I wasn't backpacking through India. I was being trained in mimicry, reading body language, and even muggle style hand to hand combat."

A thought struck her and jumped out of her open mouth before she could stop it.

"Did Victoire know?" she asked, wincing at how pathetic she sounded. She loved Vic, really she did. Most of the time. Even if she had broken Teddy's heart.

"No," Teddy broke into her reverie, an unpleasant smile twisting his mouth. "She hated that I was always away, that I was always tired, that I had.. a boring nine to five ministry job." Rose opened her mouth to say something, anything, but Teddy saw the pity in her eyes and rushed to continue. "Only Harry, your parents and three other agents I work with know what I really am. What I do."

"And I," Rose said with forced lightness.

"And you," Teddy agreed, an unreadable light flickering in his eyes.

"Aren't you exhausted?" she asked, looking at her oldest friend as if for the first time. He was tall, not in the lanky fashion of her father and brother; he was all broad shoulders and coiled strength.

"You've been working two jobs for years apparently; no wonder you don't have time for your friends and family, or for a girlfriend!" Realizing how dangerous the words that had tumbled carelessly out of her mouth were she risked a glance at him and was relieved to find him looking thoughtful rather than offended.

"I intend to make time," he said quietly. Rose felt an unexpected swoop of sickness in her stomach at this and glanced down, puzzled. She never got food poisoning, she had inherited her fathers insatiable appetite and iron constitution.

"What have you done to your hands?" Teddy asked abruptly and Rose unclenched her hands automatically to reveal vicious tears in her white palms from the jagged nails that that been digging into her soft flesh for the last ten minutes. She had not noticed the pain and waved Teddy off as he tried to absorb the spots of blood. He firmly took her hands in his large ones and flipped them over, examining them closely.

"_Episkey_," he murmured and her sinew and muscle knitted itself together before her eyes.

"You've been a healer as well, haven't you?" she asked drily, making the mistake of meeting his gaze in an attempt to be distracted by the sensation of his hands lightly squeezing hers.

Rose Weasley was sensible. She was not the type of girl to be drawn in by good looks alone; although she had dallied with the incomparable Scorpius Malfoy, that affair had been as much for the allure of the forbidden as anything else, a childhood fit of rebellion she had sensibly grown out of. She had dutifully gone along to one or two dates her incorrigible mother had set up; all nice, successful, respectable young men, some of which she had enjoyed the company of. But she was always in control. She was a Weasley, a brilliant witch, a respected researcher and no one ever forgot it.

Here she was just Rose and he was just Teddy, secret agent or not. He was Teddy and he had always been stability and the safety, a pillar and an almost relation, not rushing white water rapids and tumbling over sheer cliff faces, to fall or fly. The doors of her mind have been determinedly shut for many years now, but an impossible possibility is dimly illuminated, strains to worm its way in.

Rose took a breath and ignored it, like she ignored the amusement in his eyes as he watched the clockwork turns of her mind, like she ignored the question asked by his quirked eyebrows, the peculiar pursing of lips when she stepped back and freed her hands from his hold.

When it came down to it, he was Teddy. That was what was important, that was enough. He was Teddy. And he would make some glamorous, successful, exciting woman the happiest on earth. Rose being Rose, she should analyses why this causes a sour taste to seep in her mouth, but Rose being Rose she searched for answers to the problems of the world rather than in herself.

"It doesn't make sense," she said, as much as to break the curious silence as anything else. "Surely the Ministry has had secret agents before, why did Uncle Harry need his own special unit? Why aren't there more of you?"

"Right to the heart of things as usual," Teddy noted wryly. "It started off because Harry wanted me to have as much of a normal life as possible. He's lived in the spot light always; he wanted me to be as normal as I could be. Then things changed.. the wizarding world is not like it was a few years ago.. the Ministry likes to keep very tight control of their assets these days. Uncle Harry is watched, especially in the current political climate.." he trailed off to look at Rose questioningly.

She grimaced in reply. "Do you think, considering my mother, my uncle – wait, my whole family, that I wouldn't know all about James van Roden and his ridiculous, disgusting, unbelievably popular movement to tag and track non-human magical animals?" she asked sardonically.

He did not grin in reply as she expected, he knew Percy and Hermione almost as well, if not better than she. His face was somber as he looked down at her.

"Van Roden has been gaining followers at a tremendous rate over the years. There have been accidents, attacks, kidnappings of magical children that he blames the werewolves for, or the vampires, or the centaurs-"

"My father's convinced they are set ups," Rose said, screwing up her face in distaste.

"It's impossible to find any evidence of him being behind it, and with Harry being sick, Percy being overseas and Ron always out on missions, its been up to your mother alone to fight him legislation for legislation."

"Don't I know it," agreed Rose. "Teddy. What does this have to do with me? I appreciate – more than you can know – you letting me into this, but I know you didn't do it willingly. What do you need me for?"

Teddy bit his lip, hesitating for a moment before replying. "There's a summit in Transylvania on werewolf regulations I am speaking at. We've had reports trickling in of an alliance between goblins and vampires, plans of an uprising. I need a translator so I can negotiate with them."

"Why can't you use spells?" she asked instantly, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

He sighed. "They want us to go in without our wands," he said relunctantly.

Rose felt her hand curl instinctively around her wand, easily the most precious object she owned and shook her head so violently he red curls swung through the air.

"You're insane," she said unequivocally. "They will rip us apart, and I won't allow that, Theodore."

"There will a team of agents nearby monitoring our every move, getting ready to rush in if we so much as trip and fall over," Teddy said earnestly. "Do you really think your father and godfather would agree to you risking your life?"

She shrugged, still horrified by the idea of shelving her wand. It would be worse than cutting of a limb, or losing vision in one eye. Magic was her life, her power, its endless possibility, were things she relied on, things she needed. She could not let them go.

"Come with me," he said one more time, a note of real pleading in his voice. "I need you, Rose. I can't do this without you."

She glared at him, for forcing this choice on her.

"How important is this meeting?" she asked reluctantly, snapping her frown back into place as his face lit up.

"You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't crucial, petal," he said seriously. "This meeting could prevent another war, or start one."

She stalked past him to flop into the more comfortable of the two chairs that were the sole furniture in the room. Everywhere she looked, she saw reminders of his cause, from the books on dark creatures lining the book cases to the plethora of costumes spilling out of boxes. Rose put her face in her hands and groaned.

"Think of it as an adventure, Rose," Ted said softly. She did not need to emerge from her self constructed haven of fingers to know that he was kneeling before her, his face written over with need. "You've spent your whole life doing what is safe, and predictable, and dull. Live a little. This is an adventure of a lifetime, a chance to make history, not just read about it."

Rose let her fingers fall to her lap, where she twisted them about restlessly. She looked into Theodore Lupin's face, hovering inches away from her, smiling infectiously and her scowl deepened. This was no laughing matter.

Two roads opened up before her, two paths one Rose could tread. They would define her, change her, make her. They were real; she could almost see their spectral forms superimposed behind her vision of Teddy. She closed her eyes, and it made no difference, she could still see the roads. His face.

Rose made her choice.

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**At long last it is here! Sorry for the delay, I'm mainly at hpff and forget I have an account here. Remind me with a review!**


	4. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

The Weasley-Potter-Lupin clan was a large and numerous one. Every family has its feuds, its secrets, and its fair share and then some of drama, but it is due to the celebrity nature of this clan in particular that this story comes to our ears.

Lucy Finnegan, nee Weasley, was the first to shed her family name for another. In her long life, she never grew older than thirty five and her patented beautifying products almost matched her succession of husbands in their contribution to her Gringotts vault. This disgusted her sister Molly almost as much as her conversation and she moved to sunny Australia to escape her family and live her life in a rain free paradise with a gorgeous surfer called Noah.

After Lucy, James Potter is perhaps the most famous, his newspaper _The Oracle_ providing an alternative to _The Daily Prophet_ that was received with a resounding sigh of relief from the magical population. Similar sounds are emitted by any patients tended by Healer Potter, who eventually opened his own practice with his black haired, hazel eyed sons. Another family business you might have heard of is WWW, handed down to Fred II. Perhaps you've been lucky enough to wrangle a reservation at the exclusive restaurant co run by Roxanne and Hugo, who eventually quit his job in Magical Law Enforcement to pursue his love of food.

Even if you are not a Londoner and have never experienced these well known sight, or if you are a social hermit and don't know Lily Potter-Shacklebolt, you must have seen the face of Victoire Zabini, the first international supermodel of the magical world, peering out at you from some magazine or society newspaper. If you grew up in the 2020s, then you may have heard the three smash hits of voice sensation Louis Weasley. Perhaps, in the depths of your memory, if your mother or grandfather was an avid tracker of the 'royal' family, you can remember another Weasley, another sister, the artistic rebellious one. The newspaper clippings may lie in your attic under mounds of dust, the last memories of the girl who accidently and tragically overdosed on magic mushrooms, leaving a devastated fiancée behind her, who was soon to follow her into greatest adventure of all.

I am willing to bet, however, that you have not heard the story of Teddy, or of Rose. The brilliant daughter of Hermione Granger, first female Minister of Magic, and Ron Weasley, decorated Auror, did not blaze her own trail of glory. She appeared to fade into the background, choosing to study obscure and ancient languages, dedicating her life to subjects that bored even the most avid of Weasley watchers. It is generally accepted however, that Rose, of all of them was the sensible. Or so they thought.

When faced with the most important decision in her life, the choice that would irrevocably seal one road of her life and exile her to another, did Rose Weasley make the sensible choice or the insane one?

I can tell you this; she made the only choice she could.

Risking her life in highly dangerous, potentially explosive mission with Ted Lupin was not in Rose's ten year life plan. Neither was becoming adept at werewolf negotiations, wand to wand combat or being addicted to the rush of adrenaline that pumped through her veins as she ran through the deepest darkest wilds with only her oldest friend at her side. Disappearing from the public and academic world was not something she had ever envisioned, accepting a job as a field agent was a future that would have had her in hysterics if you suggested it to her.

In the end, Rose made the only choice she could. It was not practical, it was not logical, it was not even safe. She did it anyway and had the time of her life. To be sure, it was not what anybody who knew her would have expected her to do. It was not, strictly speaking, sensible. But then, neither was marrying Teddy Lupin a good five years before had ever she planned to.

_fin_

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**That's all there is, there isn't anymore! Tell me if you liked it, hated it, what have you. My other Rose WIP is going to be MUCH longer and I need to get back to focusing on Ripples, but this was a sideproject I hoped you enjoyed!**


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